Organizing and actions to resist the moral and financial bankrupting of the U.S. through wars against the poor, at home and abroad.

Thursday, June 15, 2017

Assigning Blame For #Alexandria Shooting To Corporate Press, Liberals and Democrats -- But Not To NRA?

Another angry white man with a gun strikes terror into the heart of our country. Photo: LA Times

Before I had a chance to finish this unusual post made of tweets about the latest mass shooting in Alexandria, Virginia, it was no longer the latest mass shooting. A gunman in San Francisco shot up a UPS facility later in the same day. Was he also angry about Republican legislators trying to cut his health care? Was he also hyped up on alleged calls for violence emanating from faux leftists like Bernie Sanders? Or secretly working for antifa?

Violence with guns is a dead end game. Even if I thought it was morally justified to kill legislators poised to destroy the Affordable Health Care Act -- which I don't -- it is terrible strategy in an era when the powerful have weapons that can literally destroy life on the planet.

I've noticed the uptick in violent language and calls to action from the many fractured pieces of the body politic since the ascendance of the demagogue with bad hair. A horrifying sign of the times.The Los Angeles Times quoted a member of Congress following a security briefing: “Everyone’s getting a bunch of death threats right now,” Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.)

Fight back by remaining civil, respectful, and compassionate for all sentient beings even as you struggle for human rights like health care. Fight back by recognizing that if we live by the sword, we must die by the sword. Fight back by withdrawing your support from the system of capitalism masquerading as democracy, a system that is killing us all.

Less than 24 hours after it happened, news about the Alexandria shootings wasn't even trending anymore. In among the infotainment clutter was the latest "terrorist" threat, a bomb scare in the Port of Charleston with a plot straight out of a made for tv movie. And so we trudge on, into the fog of a polarized nation, heavily armed, and lashing out in pain.